The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1887-10-13


at transcribing the dry details of law cases
from morning till late AT night at low WAGES.
1t the reporter is robust he may endure, tho
strain upon his vitality l'n-, cuous. to save
something, bat the compensation is not suf-
ficiently large to grow wealthy upon before
his physical capital is lost in a corporal
panic.
He is expected to rform impossibilities;
to record the words of half a dozen wranc-
ling lawyers and if he orlits remark one of
them remembers making lie is an ''incompe-
tent" and has "ruined the case" | reported
some years iii the courts of western city,
where many of the witnesses were hardy, hot
hcady Germans, each determined to win tho
case by the vehemnncc of his own testimony,
The judge jury and counsel would passively
allow witness to run out string of iargon,
three-quarters or moro of it utterly uninteli-
gibln, and when the Tcuton had run down
the judge would say:
"Mr Stenographer, read what the witness
said"
Now, Mr.. StenoSra,hcr" is no more ablo
to masticatc such linguistic hash than any
other nearer, but he is expected to understand
all languages and all conGlomerations of
sounds Ill any wise resembling language. He is
regarded as II machine into whose nuricular
hopperS, so to speak, any mass of words NAV
be poured, and it will issue from his digtal
outlets in dcciphorablo stcnography; or as a
sort or Photographic camera, which takes all
instantaneous impression of language, how
ever rapid, ambiguous, obscure, involved or
lndlstlnct it may be. But the fact is "Mr,
Stenographer" is human. very human, with
oil humanity's pitiful limitations He must
hear the words clearly to write them. and
there Is a decided limit to his speed Two
hundred and fifty words a minute is a high
speed, but over 400 can be spoken in that
time. Besides bis speed varies Indigestion
Or somo other complaint may draw = film
over the brain and the stenographic forms
will not como as quickly as hidden; but no ac-
count is taken of that If he is not able to
read his notes on request, or makes errors in
transcribing what 10 one understood on de-
livery, care is taken to let him know he is an
incompetent"
Many inaccuracies or ndiscretions in
speeches, which are unnoticed when the Ian
guage is glowing with oratorical fire are
garlng when presented iii the cold tanpi-
blity of type. But the reporter gets all tho
blame If they creep i'll through haste Or lack
OF knowledge of the subject, and if he at
tempts to correct, may make worse plumbers,
or change the style to tho chagrin of the ora
tor. SO he is in a strait; he is Liable to de-
pressing censure whether he transcribes as
delivered Or tries to correct
Very vague ideas prevail as to tho capa-
blllties of tho steno-raphor. One noon a law
yer came to mo and said: II want a tran
script OF this mornings testimony" "When?"
inquired. Shy the timc court opens this
afternoon" | was expected to transcribe
into longhand in one hour and half, tho
length OF the recess, what it had taken three
hours to write in shorthand And vet nv
reply, "What would be the use of writing
shorthand if I could write longhand twice as
rapidly" was regarded as inpudence and as
lncontestable evidence of my incompetence.
Constantly writing the thoughts Of others.
the stenographer las little opportunity for
originality i'll his own Yet to be successful
requires much information on various sub
jects, and if that were used in some original
line of thought and action, tho return in
money, and perhaps fame, might DO fer su-
perlor to his highest compensation in stenoc-
raphy.
People enormously suppose that, by tho
writing of so much matter. the stenographer
must lay up vast store of valuable informa-
ton. The words flash so rapidly through his
bA''i'A oiitiU tNS nave lou Ul11G TO
lodge He tries to get the words and lets
tho thoughts take care of themselves. If stray
items Of information are caught he has no
time to assign them to particular place.
consequently he may accumulate q mass of
unconnected facts not classified to be of ready
accessibility. The thoughts represented
by the words the stenographer writes so
rapidly wear no deep courses in the memory
They like laoyes
road, they leave faint traces which are soon
obliterated. An experienced law reporter
once told me that he firmly believed tho
practice Of stenography weakened rather
than strengthened the memory This may
have been somewhat strong. but, rs the
memory is not required TO hold the thought
more than al instant, in which it. must recall
the peculiar forms to represent the spoken
words, the tendency certainly is not TO in
crease its retentiveness or to cultivate the
faculty of orderly reasoning.
There arc of course some fine situations
particularly in the political ield-to which
stenography is the open sesame but its
magical power lies i'll long and hard expert
ence, a reputation for faithfuness and accu-
racy, and ready information on many SUBJ
jects, and the situations are not, as is gener-
ally supposed, smooth and pleasant paths,
adorned by perennial flowers of ease and en-
joyment.
If it be said that these trials are no worse
than those of other vocations, and are to be
courageously met and overcome US the OBJ
stacles incident to oil earthly careers, then
let me say, in conclusion, that, for some rea-
son, stenographers rarely regard their pursuit
as being adopted for life, but aro forever
looking forward to some happy time when
they will be relieved of their burdens. 1t
may DO seriously questioned then whether it
Is wise to adopt calling one will almost GER
tainly not to wish to follow till old age, and
when there is a grave doubt of its returns
compensa ting the toll, caro- and intense strain
upon the vitality. H. NJ HoKE
William f. Cramcr.
William E. Cramcr, of Tho Milwaukee
Evening Wisconsin, is u man of small stat
ure. with wiry figure and all elastic.
nervous way of getting around, snow white
hair and whiskers, and well nodded, strong
face. He lived to be an old bachelor, not